Origen selected e0n Bhqabara|~ in John 1,28 as the superior reading in his Comm. Jo., an assessment challenged by modern critics. Although the text-critical data seem to indicate e0n Bhqani/a|~ as the preferable reading, this claim may be
questioned on literary and redactional grounds. Those same observations provide evidence for intentional literary commemoration of John’s ministry at the Jordan. Origen’s gloss of Bhqabara|~ as “House of Preparation” (oi]koj kataskeuh~j) leads to an examination of Mk 1,2-3, and its lexical divergence from LXX Mal 3,1.22-23 [=MT vv. 23-24]; Isa 40,3. Mark anomalously uses the verb kataskeua/zw, the nominal counterpart of which (kataskeuh~) renders Heb. hdfbo(j “work, preparation” (LXXAB Exod 35,24), which is graphically similar to hrb( tyb. When combined with historical-geographical study of the area surrounding Jericho,
these data allow us to trace the process of textual and traditional development whereby the toponym hbr( tyb (Josh 15,6.61; 18,22), preserved at the modern H}. ( E!n el-G.arabe, served as the toponymic antecedent of both Bhqabara|~ and Beth Barah (Judg 7,24). This process of development provides additional defense
for the traditional localization of John’s ministry in the southern Jordan River Valley near the el-Mag.tas and H9ag]la fords.

306 Jeremy M. Hutton
important witnesses that â€œin many instances there has been a conscious
later alteration of the name of the placeâ€ from the original Bhqaniva/ to
the later Bhqabara'/ (4). There is a general consensus among scholars
that there is very little data that would speak in opposition to the
primacy of Bhqaniva/, and although Riesner recognizes the value of the
toponymic evidence provided by the Old Syriac and the other
â€œminorityâ€ manuscripts, he ultimately concludes that this information
points only to the existence of a â€œlocal traditionâ€ in which the site of
Jesusâ€™ baptism was named Bethabara (5).
Although it thus seems that Bhqaniva/ is the original reading, two
considerations mitigate the force of taking that reading as a historically
accurate notice of the location of the Baptistâ€™s ministry. First, Riesner
cites a literary topos in John that would purportedly confirm this text-
critical judgment of the priority of Bhqaniva/: namely, the fact that â€œin
Johnâ€™s Gospel Jesusâ€™ way leads from Bethany [1,28; 10,40] to Bethany
[11,1]â€ (6). R. Fortna concurs implicitly with this literary judgment and
is, I would argue, correct when he states that â€œif the reading of Bethany
is correct, it is perhaps designed by John to provide a balance at the
start of the ministry with the other Bethany where it endsâ€¦â€ (7). In fact,
Fortnaâ€™s recognition of the importance of locale in the fourth gospel,
particularly with regard to the literary correspondence between the
presumed Bethany of John 10,40 (based on the apparent reference to
1,28) and the Bethany of John 11, provides a serious caveat to claims
that Bhqaniva/ is actually the lectio dificilior in John 1,28. Although it is
difficult to build a strong case for the textual priority of Bhqabara'/ in
John 1,28, the redactional nature of that verse mitigates the claim to
York 31994) 199-200; C.K. BARRETT, The Gospel according to St John (London
1965) 146.
(4) RIESNER, â€œBethanyâ€, 33.
(5) Ibid., 33-34; and idem, Bethanien, 15, 36 (and bibliography in n. 79).
RIESNER (Bethanien, 15) and R.G. CLAPP (â€œA Study of the Place-names Gergesa
and Bethabaraâ€, JBL 26 [1907] 62-83, esp. 76) point to the plurality of ortho-
graphic variants of Bhqabara/' â€” as opposed to the relative paucity of variants of
bhqania â€” to argue that the former name was inserted late and independently by a
v
number of different copyists. RIESNER traces the confusion to the late insertion of a
local tradition, while CLAPP credits Origen with the origination of the discrepancy.
(6) RIESNER, â€œBethanyâ€, 33-34; and idem, Bethanien, 14, a judgment fol-
lowed by PICCIRILLO, â€œSanctuariesâ€, 438.
(7) R.T. FORTNA, â€œTheological Use of Locale in the Fourth Gospelâ€, Gospel
Studies in Honor of Sherman Elbridge Johnson (eds. M.H. SHEPHERD â€“ E.C.
HOBBS) (AThRSupp 3; London 1974) 68.